Bike-share programs like this one in Chicago are very popular in major metro areas, but are quickly being found in smaller communities like Battle Creek, Lansing and other Michigan cities. The League is hosting a bike-tour in Detroit next month.

It’s great to see so many Michigan communities starting various forms of bicycle-sharing programs. Plus, those who are starting them up are really excited about it. Under the subject line “Newest Cool Thing in Battle Creek,” Battle Creek Mayor Susan Baldwin recently sent an email to the Michigan Municipal League staff letting us know about the bike-share program that just started in her community this week.

"Thought the MML might be interested in the new cool thing we have in Battle Creek – a bike-share station!” Baldwin wrote.

And the League is excited as well. If you don't know, there are a variety of types of bike-share programs but in simplest terms it's a service in which bicycles are made available for shared use to individuals on a very short term basis.

John Lindenmayer, advocacy policy director for the League of Michigan Bicyclists, said Battle Creek joins a growing number of Michigan communities to start bicycle-sharing type programs. So far, in addition to Battle Creek, there are various forms of bike-sharing programs under way or getting started in Ann Arbor, Detroit, Ypsilanti and Escanaba/Gladstone, Lindenmayer said.

Matt Bach is director of Media Relations for the Michigan Municipal League. He can be reached at 734-669-6317 and mbach@mml.org.

The man known as the “founder of New Urbanism” will speak at the League’s 2013 Convention, to be held Sept. 17-20 in Detroit.

Andres Duany has been at the forefront of this international movement that seeks to end surburban sprawl and urban disinvestment. His firm Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company (DPZ) first gained fame for the design of Seaside, Florida, followed by the design and building of hundreds of new and retrofit communities and downtown revitalizations. His work has had a profound influence on urban planning in the US, including the placemaking initiative that is guiding progressive local policies here in Michigan. He and wife and business partner Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk have co-authored such books as “The Smart Growth Manual.”

The League's Colleen Layton and Arnold Weinfeld recently got a chance to meet Duany at the 2013 Congress for the New Urbanism Conference in Salt Lake City. Read about the experience on the League's Placemaking blog.

During the League Convention, Duany will speak on “Lean Urbanism for Local Governments” at 3:00 pm Thursday, September 19. He will outline promising techniques for building resilient communities through such strategies as code-free zones and tactical urbanism. This is a can’t-miss-it session for municipal leaders, planners and others who are seeking a path toward a socially, economically and environmentally sustainable future for their community.